In Another Time
Jillian Cantor, 2019
HarperCollins
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062863324
Summary
Love brought them together. But only time can save them…
A sweeping historical novel that spans Germany, England, and the United States and follows a young couple torn apart by circumstance leading up to World War II—and the family secret that may prove to be the means for survival.
1931, Germany.
Bookshop owner Max Beissinger meets Hanna Ginsberg, a budding concert violinist, and immediately he feels a powerful chemistry between them. It isn’t long before they fall in love and begin making plans for the future.
As their love affair unfolds over the next five years, the climate drastically changes in Germany as Hitler comes to power. Their love is tested with the new landscape and the realities of war, not the least of which is that Hanna is Jewish and Max is not.
But unbeknownst to Hanna is the fact that Max has a secret, which causes him to leave for months at a time—a secret that Max is convinced will help him save Hanna if Germany becomes too dangerous for her because of her religion.
In 1946, Hanna Ginsberg awakens in a field outside of Berlin.
Disoriented and afraid, she has no memory of the past ten years and no idea what has happened to Max. With no information as to Max’s whereabouts—or if he is even still alive—she decides to move to London to live with her sister while she gets her bearings.
Even without an orchestra to play in, she throws herself completely into her music to keep alive her lifelong dream of becoming a concert violinist. But the music also serves as a balm to heal her deeply wounded heart and she eventually gets the opening she long hoped for.
Even so, as the days, months, and years pass, taking her from London to Paris to Vienna to America, she continues to be haunted by her forgotten past, and the fate of the only man she has ever loved and cannot forget.
Told in alternating viewpoints—Max in the years leading up to WWII, and Hanna in the ten years after—In Another Time is a beautiful novel about love and survival, passion and music, across time and continents. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
• Education—B.A., Pennsylvania State University; M.A., University of Arizona
• Currently—lives in the state of Arizona
Jillian Cantor is the author of teen and adult books, most recently her 2019 historical novel, In Another Time. Cantor was born and raised outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; she received her B.A. from Penn State and her M.A. from University of Arizona. She lives in Arizona with her husband and two children.
Books
2009 - The September Sisters
2010 - The Life of Glass
2010 - The Transformation of Things
2013 - Margot
2014 - Searching for Sky
2015 - The Hours Count
2017 - The Lost Letter
2019 - In Another Time
(Author bio adapted from the publisher. Retrieved 3/6/2019.)
Book Reviews
Cantor stumbles with this awkward blend of historical romance and science fiction.… [She] weaves in a science fiction angle…, but this element isn’t fully developed, and the ending comes across as less a twist than a letdown.
Publishers Weekly
What might have been a truly fascinating tale of pre-Holocaust Europe asks too much of its audience. The most intriguing details come near the end, when truths are revealed. —Bette-Lee Fox
Library Journal
Compelling.… [Y]ou will be swept away by this beautiful story about the bonds of love and the strength of the human spirit.
Booklist
[A] well-researched historical novel, showing how the past impacted the future…. Cantor elevates love as a powerful force that transcends tragedy and shows how music speaks to even the cruelest hearts. A powerful story that exalts the strength of the human spirit.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. The book begins with a quotation about time and ends with Hanna thinking, "The time is everything in this piece, in this concert. In Berlin." Discuss the importance of time and how it is used in multiple ways throughout the novel.Why do you think the novel is called In Another Time?
2. Max’s story begins when he first meets Hanna and ends when he believe she’s lost her, but Hanna’s story both begins and ends with her violin. Whose story is this: Hanna’s, Max’s, or both? Is this a love story? Whose love story is it?
3. The novel moves back and forth in time between prewar Germany and postwar Europe. In Berlin in 1933, Max thinks,
The city was as it always had been—busy.… Everything appeared oddly the same… except for the Nazi flags hanging up in storefronts. In 1946 London Hanna thinks, I’d.… gotten used to the sight of missing and bombed buildings, so that I barely even noticed the piles of rubble and ash anymore, tucked in among the beauty and the splendor of what still stood in the West End.
Compare and contrast prewar Germany and postwar Europe as settings. How do the conditions in both affect Hanna’s and Max’s lives and their relationships?
4. Hanna calls her violin her "greatest love" and also says "my violin was my home, and I would follow it wherever it would take me." Where does Hanna’s violin take her? How does following her passion impact Hanna’s life and her choices, both in good ways and bad? What larger role does music play in the novel?
5. Max references the Heine quote: "Where they burn books, they will, in the end, burn human beings too." Discuss why Max is so taken with this quote. Why is it important both historically and for the characters in the novel? What role do books and Max’s bookshop play in the novel?
6. Hanna says near the beginning of the novel that Julia saw Max as unreliable, that she did not know Max as Hanna did: generous, handsome, brilliant. What do you think about Julia’s perception of Max? Hanna’s? Which is accurate? How do you think the story might have turned out differently if Max had been honest about why he was disappearing for large gaps of time?
7. At the end of the novel Julia tells Hanna that she always thought she’d end up with Stuart. Hanna thinks that "Kissing Stuart was like eating a slice of black forest cake, sweet and rich and satisfying. But kissing Max was like dancing too close to the fire." Compare and contrast Max and Stuart. What do both men mean for Hanna’s life?
8. Johann and Elsa seem to have a safe, quiet, and domestic life in Berlin, even as Hitler is coming to power and danger is growing for Max and Hanna. How do Johann and Elsa act as foils for Max and Hanna? How does Elsa become a key character in the novel after the war? Why does Elsa narrate her own chapter in 1950?
9. Julia and Hanna grow up together and yet they couldn’t be more different. Julia is practical while Hanna is passionate. Julia marries, flees Germany,and starts a family, while Hanna stays devoted to her violin. Discuss Hanna’s relationship with Julia. How does their sister relationship inform the novel?
10. In the end Max says to Hanna: "I’m sorry I didn’t save you." And Hanna replies, "I saved myself." Who or what is ultimately saved in the novel? Is the ending hopeful, sad, or both?
(Questions from the author's website.)